NUA Gives S.Lankan Govt. 100-Day Deadline to End War
October 15, 2000 - 0:0
TEHRAN A key ally to the Sri Lankan government said on Saturday it would withdraw its support if constitutional reforms, aimed at ending a protracted ethnic war, are not passed within 100 days.
"The independent commission must be brought in in 100 days...(as) part and parcel of the constitutional reforms or we will not hesitate to withdraw," Rauf Hakeem, leader of the National Unity Alliance (NUA), told a news conference as carried by Reuters.
The largely Muslim-based NUA on Friday agreed to support the People's Alliance of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, enabling it to clinch a working majority in a hung Parliament.
The People's Alliance, in power since 1994, fell short of an absolute majority in Tuesday's violence-plagued parliamentary polls, winning 107 seats in the 225-member chamber.
Political sources said the NUA, with some 10 MPs including six on the PA ticket, had agreed with Kumaratunga to reform the electoral system which has been blamed for some of the violence and ballot tampering.
"The independent commission must be brought in in 100 days...(as) part and parcel of the constitutional reforms or we will not hesitate to withdraw," Rauf Hakeem, leader of the National Unity Alliance (NUA), told a news conference as carried by Reuters.
The largely Muslim-based NUA on Friday agreed to support the People's Alliance of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, enabling it to clinch a working majority in a hung Parliament.
The People's Alliance, in power since 1994, fell short of an absolute majority in Tuesday's violence-plagued parliamentary polls, winning 107 seats in the 225-member chamber.
Political sources said the NUA, with some 10 MPs including six on the PA ticket, had agreed with Kumaratunga to reform the electoral system which has been blamed for some of the violence and ballot tampering.